I walk in the air, between the rain, through myself and back again. Where? I don't know.

The Pen

This morning my puppy, Abby, took my purse outside and emptied the contents all over the backyard. My husband, Ben, discovered this while I was in the shower, and kindly scolded the puppy and gathered all of my belongings. (I say purse, since this is the focus of my story, but in fact she had taken several shoes, a bra, my purse, and a comb. I think she accomplished this in less than twenty minutes.) He came into the bathroom after he had put everything out of her reach, and said something like this:

"Babe, Abby took your purse outside."
"Oh, bad puppy. Did you get it?"
"Yeah, and she took a bunch of other stuff. I brought it all inside. She didn't damage your boot, or your purse, really... Um, she ate a lipgloss. The strawberry one. Your Benadryl stick, so you may want to get a new one of those."
"Well, they're only a dollar or so. That's fine. And I have an extra lipgloss. Thanks, honey."
*pause*
"Yeah..."
"Ben, what did she get?"
"Your pen."
"BITCH!!!! THAT LITTLE! I'M GOING TO KILL HER!!"
*pause*
"Is it damaged, Ben?"
"Well, I mean... I think it still works. Let me check. Yeah, it works. There are just little teeth marks on it."
"TEETH MARKS?! I can't use the pen if it has teeth marks! I need a new one. A new one."
"Okay, a new one. That's fine. You've just got to put your things where she can't get them."
I sighed. "Why can't she take YOUR things?"
"I don't know. Maybe she wants to be like you. Maybe your things smell better. Maybe she wants to write and wear a black bra, I don't know."
"Shut up."
"I'm going to go eat my breakfast. Yell if you need anything."
"A NEW PEN WOULD BE GOOD."

So let's talk about this pen. This was a good fountain pen. It was a Waterman, which means that it sort of looked really expensive, but I only paid thirty or forty dollars for it. It was completely leak-free, never stained my fingers, and was really easy to fill: slip in a new ink cartridge. Considering my financial situation (stable but strict), it was probably a bit silly of me to buy the pen, but I was justified in the purchase (since I've had the pen for about eight months now) until my dog ate it.

So I went online this evening to scope out a replacement pen (did you think I would just take this one lying down? No!), and allowed myself to wander onto the Mont Blanc pen web site. Immediately my heart started to pound, my cheeks flushed, and my palms began to sweat. I have a passion for the Mont Blanc fountain pen, have had for several years now. Ben knows that one of my first STUPID splurges will be an engraved Mont Blanc pen:



And it's a lot less than I spent on my iPod. Hell, it's less than I spent on my digital camera. Come to think of it, it's about what I spent on my cell phone. It would last me the rest of my life. I really do NEED one. It's a Mont Blanc, for crying out loud!!!

please? It's desperate! I need one... i want one

Labels: Abby, Writing

posted by Emma @ Friday, December 08, 2006